Black creators wouldn't dance on TikTok to the latest Megan Thee Stallion track. Here's why their strike matters
CNN
When rapper Megan Thee Stallion's new song, "Thot Shit," dropped around mid-June, most thought it was only a matter of time until a new dance would pop up for it on TikTok.
It's become a predictable trend. A fun, upbeat song and accompanying choreography go viral on the app, where thousands of people film themselves doing the same dance. Sometimes the dance originates via the artist -- like when rapper Young Thug tried to get users to dance to his new song "Ski" -- but oftentimes, the dance is created organically. For Megan Thee Stallion's new song, though, a signature dance never came. Instead, Black creators from whom these dances often originate, essentially went on "strike," refusing to upload a dance for the new track and claiming that their work was being exploited.
President Donald Trump this week lashed out at congressional Republicans like he rarely has before.
A Border Patrol agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon, during a traffic stop after authorities said they were associated with a Venezuelan gang, another incident in a string of confrontations with federal authorities that have left Americans frustrated with immigration enforcement during the Trump administration.
The Bella 1 had been tailed by a US Coast Guard cutter across the Atlantic Ocean for almost two weeks when the ship’s crew employed a novel tactic to evade the US military: painting a Russian flag on its hull.
The Washington National Opera on Friday announced it is parting ways with the Kennedy Center after more than a decade with the arts institution.
‘It’s uninvestible’: Trump’s Venezuela pitch met with skepticism from oil executives
FBI Director Kash Patel has named Christopher Raia, a seasoned career agent, to replace Dan Bongino as deputy director, according to people briefed on the matter.
President Donald Trump faced Republican defections on a series of split votes this week, but his willingness to call out members of his own party convinced some wavering lawmakers to stay in line.
Trump’s description of the Mexican trafficking world – one dominated by a few cartels that can be swiftly defeated – is at odds with how the crime organizations actually operate, experts say.
The Virginian man accused of planting two bombs in Washington, DC, five years ago pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of transporting and attempting to use explosives.
A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, according to a US official. CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon reports from Bogota.
Oregon authorities are investigating a shooting by a Border Patrol agent in Portland that wounded two people federal authorities say are tied to a violent international gang – an incident that renewed questions about the Trump administration’s handling of its immigration crackdown in the city and across the US.
A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolas Maduro, according to a US official.
Mutual distrust between federal and state authorities derailed plans for a joint FBI and state criminal investigation into Wednesday’s shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer, leading to the highly unusual move by the Justice Department to block state investigators from participating in the probe.